


Semiconductor Diode

by feverbeats



Series: Bioengineering [3]
Category: Iron Man - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Trans Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-01
Updated: 2011-08-01
Packaged: 2017-10-22 02:35:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/232792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feverbeats/pseuds/feverbeats
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times Tony Stark didn't come out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Semiconductor Diode

**Hammer**

"Sooo," Justin Hammer says.

Tony wonders exactly what would happen if he bit Hammer really hard. "We just keep running into each other," he says, beaming fixedly at Hammer's horrible face. "I've tried to avoid that, but you're kind of clingy." He looks around despairingly for Pepper. Nope, she decided this particular charity ball was more than she wanted to handle.

"Uh huh," Hammer says. "That's cute. But everything you do is cute, isn't it? The press's golden boy." He's wearing  _all white_.

"Vile," Tony mutters. Also, not true. The press spends at least half its time trying to chew holes in him.

"But that's not quite true!" Hammer says, crossing his arms for a split second before uncrossing them again and leaning back. "Is it, Tasha?"

Tony wishes for a second that Obadiah was here. But no, that's stupid, because Obadiah is a huge traitor and also dead.

Instead, Tony forces his smile wider. "Congratulations, Justin. You spent five minutes Googling me to find out what everyone else already knew. I never pretended to have a private life, cupcake. You can't sell Tasha Stark to any reporter, because all the ones worth listening to already know."

Hammer looks a little put out. "Well, I didn't know. I'm not sure I—I'm just not sure I can treat you like a, a serious  _rival_  anymore."

Tony laughs without even meaning to. "A serious rival? Oh, I see, you were definitely confused. It's okay, happens to the best of us. Now, if you don't mind, there's a blonde with my name on her." He snaps his fingers at Hammer and walks away without looking to see how well it worked.

 **Vanko**

"Your name is Russian name," Vanko tells him in the cell.

"Anthony? Not so much."

Vanko shakes his head and laughs, and Tony feels bad for wholly different reasons than when Hammer threw it at him. He feels like a stupid kid who's lying for no reason.

So he grins at Vanko and says, "Okay, fair. But I have to say, you don't exactly look like an Ivan."

The tenor of Vanko's laughter changes, Tony thinks, but he's not sure. Are they bonding, or is Vanko going to murder him? Probably both.

"Your father did not give you this name," Vanko says, watching Tony intently. He has nice, non-crazy eyes.

Tony squares his shoulders and puts himself into serious mode. "There are a lot of things my father didn't give me." Oh, ouch, why does he keep putting his daddy issues on display? Not wise.

Vanko smirks around the dark cell. "Yes, I understand. I research you."

Tony thinks he's going to say something else, but he doesn't. The weapons a man chooses, Tony has discovered, say a lot about him.

 **JARVIS**

Tony runs his fingers over the web of blue that extends outward from the reactor in his chest. "Dying," he says out loud, just to try it.

"Very astute, sir."

Tony throws himself down in his chair. "Thanks, JARVIS. Was not talking to you."

"Apologies."

Tony feels as though JARVIS is still paying attention, though, which is what he was designed to do, after all. Having a robot nanny is probably something Tony thought would be useful.

He buttons his shirt again, annoyed that he's so  _aesthetically_  bothered by the fact that he's being poisoned by his heart. But he figures he's entitled. He put a lot of work into making his body habitable and now every time he turns around, it's trying to kill him. He's glad he's not religious.

"I'm just going to put my brain into a robot body," he mutters.

"I wouldn't recommend it," JARVIS says mildly.

Tony hits the edge of the computer console. "Brat. Okay, let's get to work. Not on the robot, on other things."

 **Howard**

Tony talks to his dad sometimes.

Okay, Tony talks to  _himself_ \--and to his machines, which is almost-but-not-quite the same time—on a regular basis, so that's not as weird as it could be. He's way more embarrassed by the dad thing than the robots thing, though. He also spends an unhealthy amount of time wondering what his dad would think if he were still alive.

It ranges from stupid shit like  _What would my dad think about computers?_  to more important things like  _I'm drunk and stuck in my superhero suit and yelling at people, what would my dad think?_

Tony doesn't know. He's spent a long time guessing, the usual answer being  _He'd be hideously disappointed because he didn't like you very much anyway_ , but it still bugs him.

He's been watching the film reels of his dad for an hour now, and he doesn't have any more answers than he ever did. Instead, he's talking to the film.

"Sometimes I think it would be great if all this body stuff wasn't still informing my entire life at forty-two." It isn't, exactly, but whenever it comes up, Tony can't help but feel that way. "It's boring; I'm bored with it," he says. "But it comes up. It doesn't stop coming up. I wonder if you would have told me to forget the whole thing when I was a kid and I had the chance."

Who knows, maybe this whole trans thing would have helped. It's not as though his dad ever acted like he wanted a daughter.

When Howard looks into the future and tells little Tasha that she is his greatest creation, Tony shivers. He isn't sure if it's even a compliment.

 **Natasha**

The problem with Natalie Rushman being Natasha Romanov is that, well. Tony can't actually hear her name without giving a little inward flinch as an unwanted jolt of panic hits him for a split-second.

After the whole mess with Hammer and Vanko is over and Tony is haunting around Fury's place waiting for a meeting, he runs into her.

"So, hey," he starts.

She nods sharply. "Tony."

"Black Widow," he shoots back. Fair's fair. Or something.

She sighs. "You seem unduly upset that I lied to you." Her accent has something that's certainly not American in it. Right. Romanov.

"I'm just upset I didn't figure it out," Tony says. He heads over and sits on Fury's desk. "But we can still be friends. Possibly sex friends."

The look she gives him doesn't even give him the credit of being incredulous. "Mm. What about Pepper?"

"Right, yes, Pepper. I was kidding, of course. Natalie—can I call you Natalie?—You're truly a—"

"No," she snaps.

"Excuse me?"

She narrows her eyes at him. "Because it's not my name. You know it. Now use it."

Which is beyond fair, and Tony of all people should get that, but--"It's just," Tony says, "your name is kind of my name."

Natasha's expression doesn't change at all. "Yes, I read your file."

Tony was ninety-nine percent sure Fury knew, but that doesn't mean he has to spread it around. "Oh. Okay. Yes."

"Yes," Natasha says. "I'm allowed to have the same name as you. I'll see you around, Tony." She turns on her impressively high heel and walks out.

Tony whistles under his breath. Okay, he's willing to work on being calm in the face of Natasha. Not, of course, that he's planning on sticking around here.


End file.
